Sermons at St. John’s Presbyterian Church The
Fragrance of the Present Transcribed from the sermon preached March 21, 2010 The Reverend Max Lynn,
Pastor St. John’s Presbyterian Church 2727 College Avenue, Berkeley, CA 94705 Telephone 510-845-6830 Fax 510-845-6837 http://www.stjohnsberkeley.org Scripture
Readings: Philippians
3:4-14, John
12:1-11 Have you ever come in from a long, tiring hike or a tough day at work and had the privilege of someone giving you a foot massage. You get out of the shower and you are still kind of achy but beginning to relax, and then someone volunteers to put a little lotion on your feet. It has to be one of the greatest feelings in the world. It feels great just to do it yourself, but if someone else does it you can fully relax. In today’s passage Mary offers this great gift to Jesus. According
to John, after the raising of Lazarus, authorities began to get nervous
that if
people started to believe in Jesus, Rome would come and destroy the
temple and
nation. Caiaphas,
the high priest
thought that it was better for one to die rather than the whole nation. So as people gathered in
Jerusalem for
Passover, authorities were on the lookout and people were talking, “
surely he
will not come to the festival, will he”?
On
his way to Jerusalem Jesus stops back by Bethany to have dinner with
Mary,
Martha and the recently raised Lazarus.
Having come from Ephraim he had walked about twenty
miles, so no doubt
his dogs were dirty, tired and dried out.
Martha, the older sister runs
the household. She
thinks to send for
Jesus when her brother is ill. She
speaks plainly and clearly to Jesus saying, “I think you are the
Messiah, the
Son of God, the one coming into the world.”
Now when Jesus comes back, Martha, as usual is the
hostess, she welcomes
people into her home and cooks up a meal.
We can assume they wash up a bit before coming into
the house. So Jesus
is hanging out at the table with
Lazarus and the disciples.
Now
think about the context a bit more from Mary’s point of view: her
brother was
dead, and is now alive. Jesus
is now
popular, and many people want access to him.
There is word on the street that Jesus, this
powerful close personal
friend and profit of God is going to be killed.
Jesus is not running in the opposite direction, but
is heading to
Jerusalem for Passover, when security is tight and the authorities are
on the
lookout. So
passionate Mary, aware of
Jesus tired feet, grateful for her brother’s life, and afraid she may
not get
this close to Jesus again, intends to make the most of the moment. Mary
takes a bottle of precious oil and anoints Jesus feet, wiping them with
her
hair. The perfume
fills the room with
fragrance. This is
an extravagant,
sensual act in a highly emotional moment. In
the midst of this intimate moment, Judas breaks in with a comment:
“Hey,
wouldn’t it be better if she sold that oil and gave it to the poor”? Chalk this up in the category
of smart comments with really dumb timing.
Now John attributes the comment to Judas being not
so concerned for the
welfare of the poor as with wanting to pilfer some of the money earned
from the
sold perfume for himself. But
in and of
itself, his comment is not a bad one.
I
have often been troubled by this passage, with how Judas’ comment is
rejected
by Jesus saying, “the poor you will always have with you, but you will
not
always have me.” But
I think it is the
timing that upsets Jesus. Just because something maybe
accurate or important in a broader context, doesn’t mean it is always
appropriate to bring up. My
first job after seminary was in Houston for San Pablo Trinity
Presbyterian
Church. Early on I visited a member with diabetes in the hospital. I discovered that he had
just had his leg
amputated and he was not expected to live long.
He began to tell me his faith journey, about how he
had been a
captain in Samosa’s national guard, had personally served Samosa, until
he was
pinned down in his office by advancing Sandanista revolutionaries. With bullets flying all
around, He prayed to
God, escaped and left with his family to refuge in Houston. God had saved him. With this faith, he could
make it through this trial and face
death with hope. He
asked me to pray
for him and his family who encircled the hospital bed. I was in an interesting
dilemma: I thought of telling him the Sandanista revolution was a just
response
to a corrupt and brutal dictator, whom he had served, and that while
God may
have spared him, he also may have sent the Sandanistas to drive his
sinful
regime out of power. On the other hand, all I knew of this man came
from the
hospital room and this story. Was I now to be his judge? And if he didn’t change
his mind and repent,
he might just wind up in hell rather than heaven.
I stalled for a few minutes while I thought this one
through.
Then I prayed: Father, not my will but your will be done, for we know
that your
will is good for all. Now
we see in a
mirror dimly, even as we await being with you face to face. Forgive us for our sins,
even as we forgive
those who have sinned against us.
We
trust that in your grace, not by our words or works we are saved. Sometimes being right is
trumped by grace. Every
year at the beginning of Advent we put up a manger scene here in the
sanctuary. It has
been tradition at St.
John’s not to put out the baby Jesus until his birthday, and to leave
the wise
men far off until after Christmas, when they come to pay their respects. Last year, Angelo and
Melissa and Phoenix,
being new to the church volunteered to help and set up the manger scene
complete with baby Jesus and the wise men.
What to do? Tell
them they were
busted by the liturgical police, or with joy say thank you and
celebrate this
premature baby like you would any other?
Another Christmas eve we were worshipping the
newborn
prince of peace when some bozo started yelling something about oil,
Bush,
capitalism and the war in Iraq. He obviously didn’t know where he was. If
your wife or girlfriend has just spent an inordinate amount of time
getting
ready to go out for a night on the town, and she asks how she looks, it
is not
wise in such a moment to bring up the value of exercise. Timing can make smart
opinions dumb. If
you are in bed with your husband and he is looking hopeful, it is not
to pass
the message that his mother called and thinks your mortgage is too big. Mother might be correct
that the mortgage is
too big, but the timing is all-wrong. Now
I am not a fan of massively expensive weddings, and in the context of a
sermon,
I can remind you all of the reformed notion that good Christians will
shun
ostentation. But if
a father comes to
me and says, with a tear in his eye, that he wants to do something
special for
his baby girl, is that the time and place for a lecture? I
said that I have had problems with this passage where Jesus lets this
extravagant act take place, and dismisses Judas comment with “We will
always
have the poor.” Surely
it looks like a
timing issue, but I also got another perspective while working in
Guatemala. I had
worked with a Ketchi village to build
a well. We had gone
ten kilometers up
river to retrieve sand with our hands for making cement. We had pushed two large
cement pipes through
a steamy swamp filled with deadly snakes, mosquitoes, leaches, and
untold
number of other hazardous animals and plants.
We dug a deep hole and constructed the well complete
with a cover and a
pump. The village
had fresh, protected
water for the first time. The village threw a party, a
massive party. Now my friends were poor. They almost never ate beef
unless it
was a hoof, intestines, or some other portion we would throw away. When they told
me they were buying a steer
for the occasion, I suggested they save the money and give it to the
poor,
themselves. All my
friends just kind of
looked at me like I was from another planet and Pedro the leader said,
“we are
poor, but we have accomplished a great thing and we want to celebrate.” Sometimes you just have to
go for it today. Jesus may or may not have
thought Mary’s extravagant act was entirely necessary.
He may even, in another context, agree with
Judas that the money could have been better spent.
But he accepts the extravagant gesture as a gift of
love, and
then gets annoyed with Judas for breaking into Mary’s sacred space,
saying,
“Leave her alone. She
bought it so she
may keep it for the day of my burial.”
John’s Jesus is very aware of where he is going but
he
wants the readers to be confident too. He intends to invoke an image of
Jesus’
life as preordained, regal, divine, worthy of great reverence. I wonder
if the
author of John might have written this story within the context of a
congregation that was committed to the care and liberation of the poor,
and
questioning whether or not to forgo costly rituals around death? It
is common today for people to tell their families that they don’t want
anyone
to make a big deal at the time of their death.
We want to act humble, and we don’t want to make
people work. I
think it is fine to talk about death, and
how you and your family are going to handle things. Still it is
important to
understand that a memorial service is probably more important to the
persons
who remain than for the one who dies.
While suggestions to help reflect who you are are
fine, I would highly
recommend not limiting how those who love you express their love and
grief. While it may
be your death, it
is their love and their grief and nothing you can say or do will change
the
fact. So there are lessons here
about timing, about the fact that sometimes it is not good to express a
good
opinion. And
sometimes we should allow
ourselves to receive a gift given in love, and allow those who want to
to give
it. Sometimes,
despite the hardships of
life, we just need to take a time out and enjoy a party, or a perfumed
room and
a good foot rub. Sometimes
we just need
to go for it. The
larger lesson is to remain aware of the Christ in the present moment,
and like
Mary, give ourselves passionately.
There is always much to be concerned about in this
world. Our country
is fighting two wars. There
have been two large earthquakes, which
have devastated the lives and families of hundreds of thousands. Israel continues to
colonize Palestine,
building settlements as fast as they can, meanwhile Iran has a crazy
President
and is trying to get nuclear weapons.
There are millions without health care in our nation. There are coffee farmers
in Columbia who
don’t get a sustainable price from middlemen.
There are Kenyans without water and Guatemalans
without a nurse, and
people who sleep around the church each night because they have no home. As followers of Jesus, we
care about these
people and things and work as individuals and as a congregation to
solve these
problems, to spread the love of Christ far and wide.
Still, we will not always
have those whom we are with, and by the grace of God we realize most of
the
problems we work to solve will still exist when we and those we love
are
gone.
So if your long time partner is about to die after a surgery gone wrong, you take her home and anoint her body with oil. If your mother is having trouble with her health and needs a new place to live, you attend to that. If your baby is sick with pneumonia you spend what you have and then some to make sure he gets the treatment he needs to get well. If a loved one dies we go to be in solidarity with the family, to be gracious in our acceptance of the many ways family members may experience their love or grief. We give of ourselves in the present moment, knowing that the love we share extravagantly is love we share with the risen Christ. |